


Where Angels Trod

by sabrina



Category: Star Wars: New Republic Era - Various
Genre: F/M, Sequel
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 1999-04-30
Updated: 1999-04-30
Packaged: 2017-10-07 09:46:14
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,392
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/63908
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sabrina/pseuds/sabrina
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>This is a sequel to '<a href="http://sabrina.dreamwidth.org/1520.html">To Mara, With Love</a>'.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Where Angels Trod

A woman stood alone on the steps of Coruscant's best known medical complex. Light brown hair fell across her shoulders, cascading down her back in loose ringlets, blending into the camel colored tunic she wore. A woven brown belt tucked it in at her waist accentuating the thinness of the woman. Although she was only of medium height, she was thin and her legs long, giving her the impression of a taller woman. As the sunlight glinted on her hair she turned and squinted at two figures that approached the steps. She smiled sadly and a little wearily as they approached.

"Mother!"

A young boy ran up the stair way. "Mother! Mother! Guess what? Father took me to the New Republic landing site today! I got to see his x-Wing and I even got to sit in the cockpit!"

"Isaic that sounds like fun," she knelt down to look into his clear, blue eyes, that brightened as he turned back to see the man whom he had spoken of. He turned back to give her a hug and then sobered quickly. "what did the doctors say Mother?"

"That I should go home and rest and that I should spend time with my son."

She looked up to see the brown robed man with blue eyes that mirrored the concern of the younger blue eyes that she stared into. His eyes held a question and far more concern that was dismissed far less easily than that of her young son.

"I'll take care of you mother," he said with a smile. "Father and I can, can't we?"

"Of course we will."

Callista smiled at her son and brushed the brown hair out of his eyes. "You need a trim, Isaic."

"Not now," he said, pushing her hand away with impatience. "I'm hungry. Can we go home now?"

"Yes, we can go home now."

Callista nodded and took his hand, as she did so she glanced at the man beside her. She had known him so well, and she had left him so cruely. At the time she had thought that it was the right thing, but now, looking back on it, she was not so certain. He had been willing to give anything for her, do anything for her, and that had been part of why she had left.

Luke Skywalker was a Jedi. A jedi who knew how badly it hurt her to not be able to use the Force. A Jedi who would have done just about anything to help eher get it back. And it was the man part of him, not the Jedi part, that would have rationalized using the dark side, IF it would get her Force power back. And that, was why she had left. Because although the man would have rationalized, it would have been the Jedi that acted, and ultimately it would have hurt him far more than it would have gained him.

It had been something that she had to learn on her own. Something she had to find out on her own. And then when she had learned of the disease it was a mystery to the doctors. A mystery they could not figure out and one that Callista was not certain could be figured out. She suspected, as did Luke that it was something far beyond the science of their time and their galaxy and something that, like her Force sense, was unexplainable to those who had not been through what they had.   
She had went to Luke Skywalker reluctantly, and only when she was certain that there was nothing else to be done. When the doctors had told her there was nothing more to be done and she had little time to live. They had given her three months, and that had been seven months ago. It was nothing short of a miracle that she was still able to hold her son in her arms. She knew it, and so did Luke.

She had known that if she went, Luke would help her as best as he could. And she had also known just how much she was asking him. The galaxy holo-vids had announced the engagement of Luke Skywalker and Mara Jade, and it had been only after much thought and the decision that something had to be done for their son, hers and Luke's. And ultimately it had been for the boy's sake that she had followed Luke to a café. To speak with him privately about what had transpired in her life since the time she had seen him last.

It had been painful for both of them. Painful for her, but no doubt more painful for Luke she thought as she looked at the solemn man beside her. He had been a blessing for her Isaic, but she knew that he thought of Mara constantly, and Callista wished beyond everything that she could somehow fix the mess that she had made of her life, and now of his.

Later that evening after Isaic had gone to bed, Luke brought her ha cup of cocoa from the kitchen. "What did the doctors really say, Callista?" He asked her as he sipped some from his own cup.

"They don't know why I am still alive and honestly, Luke, neither do I." Callista sighed. "I'm sorry, when I came to you, I thought two or three months at the most and I felt I had to do that. For Isaic."

"Callista," he came over and sat down on the sofa beside her. "You should have come to be years ago. When you first learned about Isaic. To think that I have had a son all these years and I never knew. I would have wanted to be involved in his life. Don't you believe that I deserved to be involved?"

"Luke, I couldn't tell you, and I wouldn't have now had it not been for the fact that I was dying."

"Callie," he reached up and wiped a lone tear from her cheek with his thumb. "Oh, Callie," he stood impatiently and strode over to the durasteel window. He crossed his arms over his chest and stood out looking across the city.

She stood and walked over to stand beside him. "Luke, I'm sorry that I didn't tell you about Isaic. I'm sorry that I left in the first place. I was just afraid. So afraid that you were so desperate for me to feel the Force again that you would do anything. Anything, Luke. And I couldn't let you do that. When Isaic came, I, I didn't know how you would react, and fear kept me away again." She sighed.

Luke turned and faced her in the half light from the windows. "Callie, Oh Callie, this galaxy is so messed up. What I wanted years ago is not what I wanted months ago, and yet, I can't forget us Callie. I loved you, I," he took a deep breath. "I still do, but in a different way than I did then. Do you understand?"

Callista nodded silently. "Yes, I do. I am truly sorry for the pain I have caused you. Years ago and recently."

Luke shook his head and reached for her hand. "Callie, you did what you thought was best. Both times, I have to believe that. And I have to know that what you gave me, at that time in my life Callie, I needed you. I needed to know that I was accepted, and loved, and wanted. And you gave me that. And even after you left, while there was pain and rejection, I knew deep down, I felt that you didn't want to hurt me. I will never forget you and I'll never forget what we shared. I never have, and Isaic," here he smiled sadly. "Callie, I only wish that I could have been around for him as a baby, but he is a delightful boy. Respectful and well-behaved and yet so full o9f life and exuberant about everything. He is my flesh and blood, and I want to get to know him better, to try and somehow make up for lost time."

"Then you will take care of him, when-" she trailed off and looked down at the floor. Luke took her chin and raised it, forcing her to look at him. "Yes, Callista. Always, how could I not?"

"And Mara…" She bit her lip. "Luke, I can't ask you to-"

"Mara and I have talked," Luke said slowly. "Mara knows, she knows that I would never be able to give the child to a foster home. She understands, and she will love him as her own."

Callista nodded slowly and bit her lip to keep the tears away.

Luke took a look at the clear grey eyes he had known so well, looking at the first woman that he had ever truly loved. Callista had been an angel. An angel in disguise of a computer and she had given him a reason to live and for a while he had been in heaven. When she had left him, he had been crushed. Hurt and rejected he had slipped away in the solitude that the Jedi Academy and the Jedi mask allowed him. There he had stayed until the second angel, this one with fiery red hair and green eyes that flashed when ever he did something she did not approve of, and had shown him heaven gain.

Now, faced with both of them, he knew that had fate not played the way she had that he would never have been able to choose. Only fate had given him a chance to love them both, and only fate was giving him the chance to prove that love again. Isaic would be cared for. Mara had said without a beat, Isaic can have the spare room and we will build a different spare room.' She had known without him telling her. And Callie had come to him knowing that he was the only one she could trust to care for Isaic as she would.

As he looked down at the watery grey eyes, he reached out and once more took her in his arms, this time not as a lover but as a friend. She was so frail, so sick, so physically different from the vibrant Callie he had held before, but inside she was the same beautiful woman. "Callie, I forgive you, for everything." He voiced her unspoken fears. "Isaic will be well cared for, and he will remember his mother. I will make certain that he does."

"Thank you," Callie whispered quietly.

* * *

 

**TWO WEEKS LATER**  
Luke Skywalker held onto his son's hand tightly and on the other side wrapped an arm around his red-haired fiancée. She glanced up at him and met his sapphire eyes with emerald ones. Red hair fell brilliantly against the black tunic she wore. She reached an arm around him and squeezed him gently.

Luke turned away from the raft, tears in his eyes. The knowledge had not made the experience less painful. He gave his son's hand an extra squeeze. "Are you ready, Isaic?"

The boy looked up at him and shook his head.

Luke hesitated and turned to Mara. She nodded gently and with a final squeeze at Luke's hand and deeper within him, his heart, she turned and left the pyre. Luke knelt beside his son. Your mother loved you very much Isaic, you know that."

The boy nodded slowly.

"It's okay to cry, it's okay to hurt because she isn't here anymore, but when the tears are dried and the pain has resided to a dull ache, and it will Isaic, it will. Remember your mother how she would want you to remember her, yes? Full of laughter and life and love."

The boy looked back out to the raft that had begun to drift further away.

"Did your mother tell you how we met Isaic?"

He shook his head.

"Would you like to know?"

"Yes," the boy said in a small voice. "But-" And the tears came. Luke wrapped the child in his arms, and tears of his own came.

"I think your mother would want you to know and someday very soon I will tell you, all right?"

"Yes," he sniffled.

"Your mother was an angel, Isaic. An angel in disguise and I loved her very much."

"Is Mara an angel too?"

Luke blinked back tears and stared into the boy's eyes, so much like his own. "She is to me, and I hope someday that you will know it too."

Isaic nodded and turned away watching the raft a few more moments. Luke stood and watched it too. Whatever had passed between them, Callista had left her footprints in his heart, and in those who had known her and loved her. Isaic and Luke both would keep those places sacred in their hearts and memories forever.

Luke took Isaic's hand and with a final look they both turned and walked away from the pier, towards a new life. Mara waited for them and when they reached her she glanced at Luke with a look of sympathy and then she turned to Isaic, "I'm sorry, Isaic."

"I'm okay now Mara," he swallowed hard. "Father and I talked. Mother was an angel and I won't ever forget her."

Luke squeezed his hand gently.

"Don't ever forget her Isaic. Keep her in your heart forever."

The boy nodded and started towards the transport. Mara looked at Luke quietly.

"They never leave us, Mara."

"Who?"

"Angels," he said smiling sadly. "They leave a trail of footprints across your heart."

Mara smiled at him and took his hand. "Then lead me to where angels trod, dear. I acan't cover the other footprints, and nor, do I believe that I would ever want to, but-"

Luke silenced her with a finger to her lips. "What we've been through the past few months had erased any doubts I may have had about you. Mara you have been loyal and true to me through all of this, you have accepted Isaic as your own, and been patient and loving through it all. Where angels trod, Mara, you've already been there."

He took her hand and with a smile walked back to where Isaic was waiting by the transport.


End file.
